Cry of the Forbidden Ones
by Twilight Kyu
Summary: AU, set in 1990. A mysterious organization known as the "Ludicium Magicam" are tasked in eliminating the supernatural and those who abuse magic. Our story centers a Furniture named Kanon, whose past is shrouded in mystery and a member of the organization. His descend into the world of magic and illusion will force him to face enemies of the past and uncover his true identity.
1. Coeptum

Welcome Readers, to my newest fic.

This is my first entry of the Umineko series, or more like the Alternate Universe. It will still contain some of the dark atmosphere and elements from Umineko.

The fic stars **Kanon **who becomes a member of a mysterious organization/society taking place in 1990, four years after the events of _**Umineko no Naku Koro ni**_. How he ends up in the society will be reveal as the story progresses. The story takes place mostly in Europe and to other continents depending on the 'cases' Kanon will take.

Our story will tackle a few supernatural elements but mainly magic elements... Dark and forbidden magic.

I have to warn you, readers, some elements, stories, and imagery will be disturbing.

I might also be adding a few guest characters from different series, but that depends on the time period.

And so, without further ado, let's get started.

DISCLAIMER: like the rest of my fic, I do not own the canon characters. I only own the original characters.

* * *

"_I don't want to say I hear voices.  
Well, actually I do hear voices, but I don't think it's supernatural. I think it's just that when characters are given enough texture and backbone, then lo and behold, they stand on their own."_

_~Anne Tyler_

**-X-**

A cold, dark street during nighttime...  
The road was completely empty, devoid of people. Countless snows dropped on throughout the city and the wind swirled across the lone street.

In the street was a young woman in her early 20s. She was on her way back home. She just needed to cross the lone street and move west in the next intersection where she would finally reach her house.

The woman found the street creepy, seeing it something that people could only find in movies. Once you actually experience such a thing, it can be quite frightening.

Once she crossed a few miles, the woman suddenly stopped and turned to look back. No one was there. It may not look like it, but she had the feeling she was being watched. After a moment of nothing but silence, she shrugged it off as her imagination.

However, that's the point she realized she was wrong.

The moment she turned back to the front, a faint sound of footsteps echoed coming from the left. The woman turned to the left and spotted a moving shadow running into a nearby alley. It surprised the young woman.

Staring at the dark, cold, narrow alley, the woman stood with a fearful expression written all over her face. The alley seemed like a perfect place for something to hide. It was much darker due to the shadows of the buildings from both sides.

The dark, cold atmosphere merely made everything more frightening as if something may jump out and attack you at any moment.

Overcame with fear, she was coated in her own sweats and her heart beating faster. She also had a frightened look written all over her face. Her legs began to shiver making it harder for her to stand.

Fortunately, she was relieved when she heard a cat meowing, which she thought the shadow was actually a stray cat.

Continuing her way back, the woman eventually reached her flat. It was in the middle of the city. A quiet neighborhood, to be exact. It's one of the places you would find peace.

Once she's inside, she flicked the switch to turn on the lights.

By the time the lights were on, the young woman immediately realized she was not alone...

There were people whose skins were pale as a living corpse in her home...

She couldn't scream in time as one of the intruders got to her...

The lights were suddenly off...

Devilish cackles echoed across the house...

* * *

"_The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary. Men alone are quite capable of every wickedness."_

_~Joseph Conrad_

**-X-**

_**Moscow  
December 25th, 1989**_

It's already passed midnight, probably half past three.

A boy with gray hair and blue eyes, dressed in black coat and wearing a short scarf around his neck, stood at the metro. He had rode on it for about six hours, switching aimlessly from line to line without any system.

Nothing was going down lately and the metro got less crowded.

There he was, sitting there with his eyes closed, listening to sounds of the rails and ignoring the bystanders. He actually liked being alone.

A thief once tried to mug the boy. Unfortunately, for the thief, when he attempted to reach his hand onto the pocket, the boy suddenly grabbed the thief's hand. It was rather a surprise because the boy's movement was fast as if he knew he he was going to be mugged.

In retaliation, the thief tried to throw a punch, but he couldn't. The boy's grip was surprisingly strong that the thief wasn't able to break free. Should he hardened his grip more, he would've crushed the scoundrel's fist.

Staring at the thief was the boy's cold eyes. Only by looking directly into his eyes may send shivers into your spines, as if death literally stared at your inner soul.

Prompted to run, the thief turned and fled.

The boy stared at the fleeing crook with a sullen look. Even though he seemingly had no facial expression to signify his emotions, he held no disdain toward the fleeing scoundrel at all. He actually pitied the thief, seeing him do such thing could only mean he may a troubled man.

It took a while for the boy to turn his attention to someone else sat on the other side: a beautiful woman. She's quite young, probably in her early 20s. In a stylish fur coat, she had a little handbag and a book in her hands.

She had seen the commotion between the boy and the thief.

The attractive young lady glanced at the gray-haired boy before she turned away. On the other hand, the boy didn't look away from her as there's something about her that attracted his attention and invisible to the eyes of a normal human. Her skin was unusually pale as a ghost, but normal humans would see her skin as clear, not pale.

There's no doubt about it. She was not human. And so as the boy since he could see through the disguise.

It was strange too. Normally, someone like her wouldn't be able to conjure a spell that disguise her true color. In fact, her kind has never learned this kind of spell before.

Logical deduction? A dark mage probably cast such spell on her.

The boy continued to stare upon the young woman. His stare made the pale-skinned woman nervous and sensed something different about this particular teen.

Her timing was impeccable. The train started to slow down. She got up and walked her way to the door. When the train finally stopped, the door opened and she immediately got off the train.

To her relief, the boy didn't follow.

The woman sighed followed by a smile.  
She continued her way out of the station.

Unfortunately for her, she was unaware that the teen had, indeed, gotten off the train from the other side of the cart. As soon the train darted off to the next destination, the boy made his way across the rail road and to the pale woman's direction.

It was quiet. There were less people hanging around the station. Most people during this time of late were on their way back home from Christmas parties or visited their relatives living apart from their homes. Sadly enough, some people spend time alone, either they're all alone or their families abandoned them.

The boy ignored the innocent bystanders and focused on tailing the woman.

* * *

The trail led a cold, dark street.  
Snow continued to drop throughout the night.

It was very quiet and there were almost no people around, which made it similar to a ghost town. Save it for the woman in the stylish fur coat and another woman who seemed to be a year older than the former. The latter wore a traditional Russian clothing. Like the former, the latter had pale skin.

Moments later, other people with similar pale skin arrived. There were four of them, six if you include the last two women. Of course, like the woman from the train, they're all under a spell that disguised their true color.

Once they made the roll call, they depart to the next location, probably to the place where the rest of their kind reside.

One of them suddenly stopped, which urged the rest of them to stop.

"What is it?"  
"We're not alone..."

They whisper among each other.

They turn to the back at the cold, empty street with a tree stood between two houses on the right side. Nothing caught their eyes.

However, the group were different than the humans. One of them claimed to had heard a footstep, which suggested that someone's following them. It was further proven true when another heard the pounding sound of a human heart.

One of them, a man dressed in a Russian winter clothes, including an ushanka, stepped forward from the group and approached the presence.

Hearing the heartbeat from an alley to his left, the man went there. The alley was much darker than the street, which would make it a perfect hiding spot for stalkers. Unfortunately, the pale-skinned could hear the stalker's heartbeat within the shadows.

Gleeful to have found another prey, the man approached slowly his target. The man with the pale skin had gotten much closer to whatever was in the shadows. He had already extended his fangs. Unfortunately, when he became too close, a light bright as the sun suddenly flashed across the alley. The man was not only blinded but his body had burst into flames and slowly burning away his flesh.

The pale-skinned man screamed in horror before he suddenly felt severe pain flowing through his abdomen. He was too late to react as he found a crimson-colored sword made out of pure energy impaled through his scorched body.

He stared in horror to see his attacker... The same boy from the train.

Looking down on the boy's body, he found that the energy sword came from his right fist. The boy's left hand carried a strange amulet marked with a symbol of the sun.

"Y-You..." The man suddenly spoke slowly but painfully.

The boy suddenly placed his blade deeper into the man's abdomen and grabbed his face with his other hand. The mysterious boy moved close to the man's ear and whispered...

"Transigendum futuro saeculo... Vampir..."

With that said, the boy pulled out the energy blade. The flames consumed the man's body and left nothing but his ashes behind.

Once the creature's gone, the boy turned and ran deeper into the alley. Footsteps echoed from above.

The rest of the vampire group ran across rooftop intending to corner the boy, cutting off both his escape routes. They're fully aware that one of their own had just died.

They succeeded to do so sending two of them into the alley below, both were male vampires.

Both vampires were in the north and south positions with the boy stood between them just as they planned. However, they sensed something was wrong. Their chase felt too short and the boy didn't make any effort in running and gave up almost too quickly.

It felt as if the boy had intended this to happen.

The boy stood there doing nothing as if he expected one of them to attack, which only made the two creatures feel more unnerving.

Everyone in the alley merely stood, not taking any chances to attack. The enemies could clearly see that something's not right.

The boy stared upon the vampire in the front with his seemingly cold, empty eyes.

In turn, the vampire stared back with a lustful look intending to suck out the boy's blood though he had to prevent himself from doing so. The other vampire had much control than the other one remaining cautious, being prepared for whatever the mysterious boy had in mind. There's something else that bothered the creature of the night, mainly the boy's 'scent.'

Suddenly, the mysterious boy spin around and threw a wooden stake hidden underneath his black coat to each vampire. The vampires evaded them. It didn't stop there though as the boy threw a few more wooden stakes from his coat, much to the vampires' surprise. The creatures of the night couldn't dodge the stakes for long due to the tight space, which made it more difficult for them to move around.

As a result, the vampires were forced to attack the boy.

Everyone should know that vampires are exceptional hunters. Known for their lethal speed and their strength of at least ten men, these creatures are one of the most dangerous predators of the supernatural realm.

They move in just when their mysterious assailant stopped throwing the wooden stakes.

Surprisingly, the boy was agile than he actually looked. He was able to dodge their attacks and countered them, but he didn't make any efforts to actually hurt them to the point of submission. However, it didn't mean he has no plan in mind.

After it felt like hours, when in reality it's minutes, the boy noticed the rest of the vampires didn't come to aid their fellow comrades. He evaded another assault from the vampires and looked up. He may not see them but he knew that the rest of the vampires were still up there in the rooftop.

Unfortunately, with the boy distracted, one of the vampires grabbed him and tossed him to the wall.

"Oh, I see what you were planning," the vampire suddenly spoke as he moved in and strangled the boy. Despite the creature's grip, the boy quietly motioned his right hand pointing at the vampire's abdomen. "You'd tried to make us look desperate so our brethren would come and help us, then you could use us against each other. Clever tactic, boy, but we're not that easy to fall," the vampire extended his sharp fangs.

The vampire smacked his lips excited to taste the boy's blood, slowly taking off his scarf exposing his neck.

"Transigendum futuro saeculo..."  
The boy suddenly spoke quietly.

"What did you say?"

The vampire heard the boy speaking until the creature suddenly felt an intense pain hurling through his body. His fellow comrade watched in horror to see something impaled through his stomach. When he looked down, he found the same crimson-colored sword that killed the earlier vampire extended from the boy's right hand.

The mysterious boy immediately grappled the weakened vampire and cut him down to pieces. The pale-skinned creature's remains burst into flames and left nothing but ashes.

"Y-You..." the other vampire muttered in horror. The gray-haired boy glanced at the third vampire with his seemingly cold eyes. In fact, the pale-skinned vampire recognized the boy's true identity and it's terrifying enough to scare a vampire.

Another pair of vampires, both were women this time, descended to the ground. Their comrade's death had finally attracted their attention.

"No, don't come here!" the male vampire yelled out. At first, the female vampires were befuddled by their comrade's reaction, but they found their answer once they saw the boy's energy sword from his right hand.

"About time," the boy spoke quietly.  
He picked up the amulet from his amulet with his other hand. The mysterious boy held out the amulet up high followed by a bright light shining across the alley.

Like the first victim, the extreme exposure to the sunlight emitting from the amulet had scorched both the three vampires. Unlike earlier, the boy used amulet much longer, long enough to burn the creatures of the night into ashes.

The light emitted from the amulet suddenly disappeared. The mysterious boy looked at the amulet and noticed that he used far too much light. Only a very small amount of light remained in the amulet. At least it took care of the vampires.

"Five down..." the boy looked up to the night sky and spotted the last vampire, "One to go."

The final vampire was a slightly large, bald man in traditional Russian clothings. His skin was much paler than the rest of his kind.

"You'll pay for this," the last vampire snarled and jumped down from the building.

In retaliation, the mysterious boy went up by running across the wall.

Both the mysterious boy and the vampire engage into an aerial combat.

The boy delivered the first strike and the vampire jumped back up into the air evading the assault in time. The pale-skinned man descended once again intending to stomp the mysterious boy into the ground below.

The boy dashed through the air and reached the other wall in time to evade the vampire's assault. Once the pale-skinned man landed on the ground, the boy jumped down as well. The boy swung his energy sword downward. Unfortunately, the vampire moved away from where he was in time. Once on the ground, the boy dashed at the vampire.

Swinging his crimson blade made out of unknown energy, the boy tried to cut down the creature of the night.

Despite the boy's unusual agility and speed, the vampire was faster. It may be possible that the final vampire was the strongest among them.

The nocturnal creature stared at the mysterious crimson blade emitting from the boy's hand. In addition, the vampire glanced back at the boy's face.

"You," the vampire spoke slowly when he realized the boy's true identity, "So you're the new guy and, of all people, 'they' sent you to hunt us down?"

"What was your name again?" the vampire asked while pacing back and forth, "Is it... _**Kanon**_?"

The boy, whose name was Kanon, didn't answer. Instead, the vampire's answer was a stare from the boy. The vampire shrugged.

"No matter, it will be over soon," the vampire smiled.

The fight continued as the last vampire standing charged forth. He was getting serious too.

The mysterious boy, Kanon, immediately responded to the attack by throwing the last of his wooden stakes. While running into the boy, the vampire evaded the stakes pacing left and right. Fortunately, once the vampire had gotten close to the boy, the latter jumped high into the air evading the assault. As a result, the vampire punched the wall. If he was a human, that would've hurt. Of course, he's not. Instead, the vampire broke the wall.

Looking up, the vampire witnessed the mysterious boy running upward across the wall reaching out for the top. Once he got closer to the top, he jumped off from the wall and soared above the night sky.

Kanon looked down and saw the vampire ascending fast. They engage in another aerial combat once the latter reached the former.

The vampire was very careful with Kanon's mysterious arm blade since it was capable of killing his kind. As a result, it required him to evade the energy blade as he could while trying to kill Kanon. The latter, even though he possessed exceptional speed and agility, still needed to be careful with the vampire's superhuman strength.

Their fight seemed endless enough as the two combatants fought fiercely through midair as both of them attacked and evaded at the same time.

Eventually, their battle reached the ground of the rooftop.

Kanon moved in for the next kill though the result remained the same.  
"Try as you may, you cannot touch me," the vampire gloated.

Kanon leaned backwards after deciding to take a different approach. The vampire took the liberty to attack the former. Fortunately, Kanon evaded the creature's attack without countering. Instead, he waited patiently for an opening.

Eventually, he found an opening and cut the vampire's right arm through a series of maneuvers. The latter screamed out of extreme pain. Looking at his severed arm, the vampire was horrified to see his right arm burned away into ashes.

The vampire glared at the boy. For thousands of years, that was the first time he had trouble dealing with another kind, let alone a boy. It wasn't the thing that angered the vampire, he was upset mainly by the pain for the first time, let alone by someone younger than him.

While Kanon stared at the vampire, he suddenly sensed a presence nearby.

Unfortunately, because he's distracted, he failed to see the vampire dashed directly at the him. The creature was moving much faster that he managed to catch Kanon by surprise and grabbed the boy by his right shoulder in the process. The creature of the night was running so fast that they both darted off from the rooftop. With the boy in his grasp, the vampire threw Kanon across the area. The latter was hurled across the night sky until he crashed through a window of a nearby flat.

* * *

Now inside the apartment, Kanon was one of the rooms: a bedroom.

Even though the crash was painful, it didn't hurt much for him.

His crimson sword vanished from his hand afterwards.

Getting back on his feet, Kanon noticed the lights were off. Bed was neatly made and the furniture around the room were clean. It proved that someone lived here. He hoped whoever own in this particular apartment would understand if he had explained everything to him. Then again, his opponent was a vampire, so the results may be different than he had thought, or even worse.

Something in the apartment had caught his attention. It was a smell. The smell was already horrible enough that it managed to make Kanon feel sick, prompting him to cover his mouth. However, there's something about the smell that caught his attention.

After inhaling the smell carefully, Kanon realized that it was a scent of blood. Fresh blood, to be exact.

His encounter with vampires had helped him to piece together the possible answer to the smell.

Kanon exited the room slowly and quietly as he reached the foyer. The room was neat, no doubt about it. It was dimmed as well though the moon's light reflected through a series of glass windows into the room, which lit the foyer a bit. With a set of well-made furniture and clean atmosphere, the person who lived here must be a good decorator. Kanon also spotted the kitchen section in the left side.

The smell was much stronger in that room, however. Nothing seemed to faze him as if he had experienced it before.

Before he could track down the scent, an idea hatched in his head. Looking back at the bedroom where he came in, he closed the curtains. Next, he turned to the switch and flicked it, turning on the lights.

With the lights on, he walked his way across the foyer until he a small door in the uttermost right corner. It's probably the bathroom. The scent was even stronger in that point.

When he opened the door, Kanon found the source of the smell... He found a woman's corpse inside. Someone died with a horrified expression and her eyes were wide opened. The mysterious boy inspected the body a bit closer. From the looks of it, her blood completely drained leaving numerous stretches across her body. There was blood on the upper side of her dress. Kanon also found numerous bite marks on her neck.

Kanon deduced that the poor woman was another victim to the same group of vampires he had fought in the street. No words could express how he sympathized the unfortunate victim nor her relatives once they found out about her death.

He closed her eyes, which made her look like she's asleep. That was the only thing Kanon could do for the unfortunate woman. Lastly, he placed something that resembled white pellets that shaped like ovals. There were a total of five of them. When he placed them in front of the door, the pellets turned invisible.

He then closed the bathroom door.

"Fate can be cruel at times, can't it?"

An ominous voice suddenly spoke from the direction of the room where Kanon landed.

The boy turned and found the now one-armed vampire stood in the shadows.

Kanon stood in his grounds preparing to defend himself for whatever the vampire had in mind. The pale-skinned man glanced at him with a wide grin and his fangs were already extended.

"No matter where they go, death will always follow and take away a life in such cruel ways. Humans are the easiest to fall," the vampire started to talk to Kanon while pacing back and forth.

The boy remained silent.

"You don't talk much, do you?" the bald man asked.

"I'm sure you'd understand that we needed blood to survive. You either take it or be taken," the vampire started to talk again.

Much to his surprise, well not really that surprise, Kanon finally spoke back. He said, "It's clear that you're an abomination. That's why I am here."

"You've been living for centuries preying upon innocent lives and taking them without pity," Kanon motioned his fist and pointed at the vampire, "You will pay your crimes with your own life."

The vampire chuckled.  
"Go ahead and try, you won't kill me that easily," the vampire taunted the boy.

The creature of the night dashed at the boy.

Kanon's arm summoned the energy sword once again preparing to defend for himself once again.

Once the vampire got close, Kanon jumped across the pale-skinned creature intending to attack him from behind. Unfortunately, while in midair, the vampire grabbed Kanon by his leg and tossed him away, crashing into some furniture mainly the chairs.

Kanon quickly got up and kicked the chairs directly at the vampire. In retaliation, the creature evaded them easily. The vampire then charged back at the boy intending to engage into close combat.

The boy immediately picked up something underneath his coat and dropped a pair of pellets. Upon collision to the ground, it imploded into a gust of smokes. Unfortunately, the vampire leaped backward into the ceiling and attached on it as if he was a spider, barely evading the smokes.

Kanon hid within the smoke.

The bald vampire recognized the scent from the smoke.

"Garlic," he immediately said.

"Clever toy. Someone did make his research. However..."

The smoke soon faded, but Kanon was nowhere to be found. He actually managed to sneak behind the vampire and he leaped up to the ceiling in an effort to impale the creature with his crimson-colored blade.

"It's not enough!"

The vampire suddenly lunged below and punched Kanon directly on the face, crashing him to the floor below.

"I can smell you," the vampire landed, "I can hear your heartbeat."

Kanon got back on his feet and glanced at the vampire.

"Try as hard as you may, you won't lay a finger on me," the vampire gloated.

This time, it was Kanon's turn to charge forth.  
Through a series of slashes, Kanon tried to cut down the vampire but to no avail as the latter evaded every single of his attack.

Having enough with the boy's feeble moves, the vampire decided to kill the former by piercing through his heart with his claws.

When the vampire extended his claws from his only arm, Kanon decided to make another move. He quickly picked up the sun-marked amulet from his pocket. Unfortunate, by the time he held the amulet to unleash its light, the vampire dashed away from the area in a flash. Thus, the light missed the vampire much to the boy's dismay.

"Ah, another clever toy you have there, boy," the vampire's voice echoed the room.

Kanon looked around the foyer after putting his amulet, now completely drained of light, to his pocket.

"But," the vampire executed a dropkick on Kanon from the left side, "Don't think your toys can save you now!"

The vampire grabbed Kanon again and tossed him aside. This time, the latter landed on a kitchen section, mainly next to the dining table.

Kanon immediately got up again until he found the vampire reaching the kitchen. The latter picked up some knives from the kitchen's shelf and threw them directly at Kanon. In response, the mysterious boy used the table to block the hurling knives.

The vampire suddenly appeared behind Kanon and charged at him again. Fortunately, the boy sensed the pale-skinned creature's presence so he leaped to midair in time. The vampire passed by the leaping boy and crashing through the table. It was a surprise, actually. The vampire's speed was much faster, rivaling that of a speeding bullet.

While leaping, the boy could see the wide grin on the creature's face, which you can tell that the vampire wanted to sucked out the boy's blood.

Once Kanon landed, he found the vampire homing in again.

Kanon ducked in time just to evade the vampire.

This time, the boy grabbed the vampire by his shirt intending to smash him. Unfortunately, the vampire countered the grapple and tossed Kanon to a fridge nearby.

Battered and injured, Kanon leaped again into the air in time as soon as the vampire lunged for the punch. As a result, the vampire punched the already broken fridge. Now in the air, the boy descended below stomping the vampire.

The boy immediately leaped away from the pinned vampire. The former immediately turned.

To his surprise, the vampire punched his arm into the fridge using it as a gauntlet. The vampire turned and punched Kanon with the fridge sending him flying across the kitchen. The latter crashed on the wall.

Upon getting up, Kanon saw the vampire threw the fridge directly at him. Quickly to react, Kanon rolled to the left in time to evade the hurling fridge.

Kanon ran from the kitchen with the vampire on pursuit.

He returned to the foyer.  
From there on, he made his way quickly to the direction to the bedroom and placed another set of white oval-shaped pellets on front of the door.

Afterwards, he returned to the foyer at the exact time the vampire arrived.

"You should have run for your life when you had the chance," the vampire walked slowly toward Kanon.

The vampire's response was the same as before: the silent treatment.

"Your loss."

Kanon and the one-armed vampire engaged once again in close combat.

Executing a series of fast slashes, Kanon tried to pierce through the creature to no avail. The boy was more careful this time so he managed to evade the vampire's claws. It was the same for the vampire as well.

Their battle lasted for a few hours until Kanon began to show signs of exhaustion. As a result, the vampire began to gain the upper hand.

Kanon was forced to move away from the vampire and stood close to a window, with its curtains closed.

Panting in an exhausted manner, Kanon stared at the vampire who smiled at him.

"Impressive. For centuries, I have never seen someone who has survived this long. Warriors who dared to challenge me fell within a minute or two. But you? You lasted for hours. Truly impressive," the vampire told Kanon.

"But enough is enough. I've toyed with you for too long," the vampire motioned his arm, "You took my arm, now it's my turn to take yours and then your life."

Kanon remained silent as the vampire slowly approaching. He looked at the clock hanged on the left wall and noticed that the time was almost 7 o'clock. Their battle in the apartment was longer than he had expected. Of course, that also meant his plan worked.

"I take it that you've ran out of ideas," the vampire gloated.

Halfway toward Kanon, the vampire stopped in his track. He noticed something that horrified him from behind the boy. He could see a small ray of light shining behind the curtains. The vampire immediately realized Kanon's plan.

"How... How could I be so foolish!" The vampire turned quickly and fled to the bedroom. If he's fast enough to get out of the flat, he may be able to escape the sunlight.

Fortunately, by the time he reached the door, he step on the invisible pellets and it implode into gust of green smokes, the very same smoke that Kanon tried to use against the creature.

Inhaling the smoke, the vampire choked since the scent was garlic, poisonous to his kind.

The vampire leaned backward trying to get away from the smoke. Confused and panicked, he returned unwittingly to foyer.

"Transigendum futuro saeculo."

Kanon immediately cut off the curtains with his crimson-colored blade exposing the sunlight into the room. In turn, the bright sun burned the vampire's flesh. The boy immediately cut off the other windows' curtains exposing the entire room with sunlight.

The creature yelled in pain and it ran to the bathroom door. There was no window in the apartment's bathroom, so he should be safe there. However, when he laid his hand on the doorknob, the invisible pellets beneath the door imploded another gust of green smoke. The creature choked again.

Kanon moved toward the vampire and pulled the creature back into the opened area exposed to the sunlight.

"T-This cannot be!" The vampire yelled in agony as flames fully engulfed his pale body. Kanon watched as the flames burned away the vampire leaving nothing but his ashes.

Relieved that all the vampires were gone, Kanon knelt down under one knee. He groaned quietly in pain as he hold his abdomen. Even though he have won, it wasn't an easy battle with a vampire as he took a lot of beatings from the latter. If that was the true extend of a vampire, he didn't want to imagine if he faced all six of them in battle. If he had faced them in combat, he would've been their next meal.

More importantly, there's still one more thing he needed to do.

* * *

Kanon exited the apartment.

The sun had finally risen and shone the street. The people should be up by now for their Christmas morning.

However, there's no time to relax just yet since only one enemy remained. It's not a vampire but a human, a mage to be exact. Some vampires were capable of using magic, but this one was different. No vampires knew of the spell since it was one of a few spells that were kept in secrets from the world, even to mages.

He could interrogate the vampires before, but then again, would you be able to get something out of a vampire?

With that in mind, Kanon searched the areas nearby looking for the presence he had sensed earlier.

To his dismay, he couldn't find it. The presence was long gone.

In the bright side, he took care of the vampires and knew that someone was leaking 'secret' spells...

* * *

"_One man's 'magic' is another man's engineering. 'Supernatural' is a null word."_

_~Robert A. Heinlein_

**-X-**

_**England  
December 28th, 1989**_

Snows have stopped falling across a particular street. Piles of snow covered across the street.

In a small antique shop called "Ancient Treasure Vault," the owner was reading a newspaper at the counter. The news showed the recent murder at Moscow from three days ago, where the cause of death was the drain of blood. Not only that, the murder was actually related to another string of murders that haunted Moscow for a month.

The owner sighed after reading the newspaper until someone entered the shop.

"So, I take it that you got rid of them vampires?" the owner suddenly said as he put the newspaper at the counter.

"For your first assignment, you actually did better than I thought, let alone a bunch of vampires... Kanon."

The owner turned his attention to his visitor, Kanon.

_**End of Chapter**_

* * *

That's the end of the first chapter. I hope you like it.

In the next chapter, we will be introduced to the mysterious organization, the **Ludicium Magicam**, along with characters behind it. Kanon's backstory within the organization will also be explained here.

Now that we have tackled vampires, what supernatural creatures will Kanon be facing next?

**Characters:**  
**Kanon**, he is the main character in this fic. As you all know, his seiyu is _Yu Kobayashi_. Honestly, if he had a VA, I would choose _Laura Bailey_ as his VA.

More characters soon to come.


	2. Familiar

Welcome back to this fic.

As I said in the previous chapter, we'll be introduced to the mysterious organization, the **Ludicium Magicam**. Also, I may be using some characters from different series in this fic, so you could consider this as a crossover or some sort.

DISCLAIMER: like the rest of my fics, I do not own the canon characters. I only own the original characters.

* * *

"_The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual."_

_~Vince Lombardi_

"_Helped are those who create anything at all, for they shall relive the thrill of their own conception and realize a partnership in the creation of the Universe that keeps them responsible and cheerful."_

_~ Alice Walker_

**-X-**

"How long since that kid joined in?

"When I first saw him, he was quite the noob. He had poor combat skills and he was quite weak.

"But when we found out that he has the smart and adept quickly to the things around him, I realized that he's got potential.

"And damn I was right... Especially when we discovered his hidden talent.

"Logically, we decided to have him joined us with a bit of training. He improved drastically until he graduated from the Manus Conseruit Academy and joined in the ranks.

"Who are we? We're the Ludicium Magicam. We are an organization sworn to protect this realm from those who would abuse magic and those who prey upon the humans. Not to mention, to keep 'magic' a secret from the rest of this realm, since the folks aren't exactly ready to accept this kind of thing.

"That night, he was sent off to his very first mission. Something I'd never give to him. His first mission was to investigate vampire activities at Russia. It's dangerous and it would've killed a newcomer. But wow, he actually did it. He eliminated all the vampires.

"For me, I'd congratulate him in person. But that is when he told us that someone is conspiring with the vampires..."

**-X-**

"Were you aware of your actions whilst doing them?"

Standing in front of his boss' desk, Kanon glanced at a middle-aged man dressed in black robe. The man has a full beard and black hair with silver streaks. The boy's expression was blank as usual. His name is _**Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun**_.

Kanon wanted to say something, but the next remark stung him as if he was slapped in the face shutting him up. He could only pay attention to his boss and listen.

His boss' office was quite nice. It stirred anyone to see the amusing little trinkets on the shelves in the bullet-proof glass cupboards, hanging on the wall. Everything there, from the old tomes to swords with few firearms, each has its own history. If you were lucky when he's in a good mood, you'd get to hear those stories from him.

Anyway, the man in the black robe continued to scold the boy.

"You had only completed half your mission, and you weren't even using your full potential," Khelben said in a gentle tone.

Kanon remained silent.

"Do you at least understand your own mistakes?" Khelben has finally cooled off a bit and looked at Kanon in the eyes. Now the latter has the chance to talk. "It seems so," he answered.

"Okay," Khelben stopped striding round the office and sat down in a leather armchair, "Let's hear it."

The man in the well-made robe had turned businesslike. To the human eyes, he looked like he was in his middle age, but in reality, he's far older than that. Don't his appearance fool you, he's actually powerful than he looks. In fact, Khelben is an Archmage, an extremely powerful spellcaster.

"My first mistake, sir... That I didn't treat my mission seriously. If I had been more serious, I would've prevented more deaths," Kanon has his tone under control as he continued to speak. His boss and master listened to him diligently urging him to continue.

"When I discovered that someone else was involved, I didn't stay at Russia and investigate it. I just told the Russian branch about it and returned home," Kanon spoke again.

"Care to tell me why?" The man in the fine robe spoke next.

Kanon was silent again but only for a moment as he started to speak again. "Because... I thought it's not part of my mission so I shouldn't be involved."

"Now that is a problem. I'm not saying you're stupid, you are smart. You have the potential but you acted impulsively," the boss eventually spoke, voicing his criticism toward Kanon.

"You've done a fine job in eliminating the vampires, I won't deny that. However, your impulsive actions will endanger, not just your life, but more innocent lives. Think about your actions in your next mission," he told Kanon in a strict manner.

"Understood, Master Khelben," the boy bowed his head.

"Very well," Khelben's tone became much more normal, "You'll be given your next mission tonight. For now, get some rest. Your next mission might be more difficult."

More difficult, he said. What could possibly be worse than vampires? Well, that's what Kanon thought.

"But before you leave," Khelben snapped the tips of his fingers. A small animal suddenly flew into the office out of nowhere and approached Kanon from behind. The boy was a bit surprised to see the bird as the animal landed on his boss' index finger. The bird was an European Robin, a female to be exact.

The little bird had her eyes on the sullen boy.

"A bird?" Kanon uttered in a monotone voice.  
"I'm giving you a Familiar. It's best if you have a partner in your missions," Khelben said to him.

"Partner?"  
"You need someone to watch over you and, in addition, help you in your missions. Her name is _**Elise**_."

The robin suddenly took off from Khelben and flew toward Kanon. The latter didn't know how to react to the little bird as she got even closer. The only thing he could was to raise his hand allowing the bird to land on it.

When the European Robin land on his hand, Kanon suddenly felt a warm sensation coursing from his hand through his entire body. It was only for a quick moment before it disappeared.

Kanon then looked at the robin. In turn, the female bird looked at him, tilting her head from left to right. It seemed that the bird gained interest with the boy.

The bird suddenly spread her wings and flew away into the air. Kanon quickly turned his head up. To his surprise, the bird was no longer there.

"Good, she agrees to be your Familiar," Khelben suddenly spoke. Kanon turned his attention back to his boss.

"Where did she go?" Kanon asked.  
"To your place," Khelben answered almost immediately, as if the Archmage knew what Kanon was going to ask next.

"Now then, you're dismissed. Get some rest for tonight."

* * *

Kanon stepped out of the office into the hallway.

Where's he now, if you may ask?  
He's at the Ludicium Magicam HQ, the entire place resembled an office building with people in robes and formal clothing.

Everyone in headquarters were quite busy, working on their respective jobs. Some of them were keeping schedules and arranging missions for certain members of the organization. Those who specialized on the field were talking to their superiors before they set off to complete them.

Most tables have workers with devices that oddly resemble holographic screen. You may think that they're our modern technology, but it's actually not. In reality, they're conjured by a mix between magic and the current science of that time period. You may refer them as Holo-screen computers. These were obviously used for gathering data and information.

Hanging on the walls were emergency cases. Each emergency case was different and contained magic item.

Other members were in certain rooms, the most notable one was a large door. Beyond the door was a room where they monitor the entire world. Another notable one was a door with a label on it saying, "Personnel Only."

Kanon walked across the hallway ignoring the busy members. He was still wondering about his new Familiar from the office. Khelben was well-known as a man who's always serious. The boss was very serious in giving Kanon a Familiar, but why would he choose an European Robin? A bird that small hardly qualified as help. How could a robin be any help?

Upon reaching the headquarters' lobby, he sat at one of the comfy chairs, still lost in thoughts. The lobby resembled a cafe completed with comfy chairs and tables. They even have stand where organization members can order drinks and food.

Most of the people were aware of his presence as they stared at him. They soon began a gossip between themselves. In reality, they were very interested with him due to numerous facts about him. One was the fact that he's the youngest of the organization. The common age for newcomers was always nineteen to early thirties. It was quite unusual for someone like him to be able to join the organization at such a young age.

The boy didn't care with their gossips or rumors. He didn't even care with the people surrounding him. He just sat there waiting for someone.

However, there was one person that Kanon paid much attention. Not too far from his place, he found a certain girl in a seat right in front of his. The girl had long blonde hair that reached the tips of her shoulders. She had a clear, smooth skin in addition to her beautiful appearance.

Her choice of clothing was normal though. She wore a denim button down shirt and blue jeans.

Kanon noticed that the girl was smiling. In fact, she had been keeping that smile for hours, not even a frown. Other than her smile that distinguished her from the rest of the crowd, she has her eyes closed and never opened them. Strangely, she could still see even when her eyes closed. She rarely had them open.

The girl soon realized the boy was looking at her. When she turned her attention to Kanon, the latter immediately turned his head away looking disinterested. It's hard to tell the girl's true response toward his action. The only response was the girl giggling while looking at him.

It wasn't long when someone approached him from behind and smacked him on the back of his head.

Kanon turned and found a young man in his early 30s. He had a short, black, messy hair with similar clear skin as the girl in the front table albeit muscular. The man wore a white T-Shirt with a trench coat and blue jeans.

"How's it going, little buddy?" the man asked in a slick tone raising the palm of his right hand. Think of it as a form of greeting.

Kanon wasn't amused as he kept his usual blank expression. He noticed the girl in the front table giggled.

"Considering I've done such a wonderful job for letting a possible suspect go," Kanon talked to the man while his eyes were set on the girl until he turned his eyes upon the latter, "The boss was so proud of me that he yelled at me, Mr. _**Gabriel**_."

"Man, that's harsh, y'know," the man, whose name is Gabriel Cunningham, replied in the same slick tone, "Sorry to hear that."

* * *

_**England  
December 29th, 1989**_

Moments later, Kanon and Gabriel, in their winter attires, arrived at one of the local restaurants.

It was one of the less popular ones around, there weren't too many people coming into the particular restaurant.

After taking their table, they took off their winter coats and placed them on their chairs.

Gabriel sat on the occupied table in the opposite position of Kanon. Their place was just by the large glass window. The former soon called the waiter and ordered a coffee. As for the latter, he wanted a strawberry shortcake. The waiter wrote down the orders and left.

"Y'know what?" Gabriel spoke once they're left alone, "I'd say you've done a good job for your first mission. I mean, you'd taken out some vampires, that wasn't an easy job at all. I was really surprised when Khelben decided to give you that."

"I will admit..." Kanon took a deep breathe and became silent again. About three seconds, he spoke again, "I was scared at first. I had no idea what I should do since I was facing one of the most dangerous beings in the world."

"Heh, and here you are," Gabriel motioned his hands toward Kanon before placed his right arm on the back of the chair while his other arm on the table, "Alive and well."

"Still, I didn't do well. I didn't give some thoughts to my mission when I had the suspicion that someone was helping the vampires. I was focused on my objective, the vampires," Kanon confessed to Gabriel while keeping his monotone voice.

In response to his answer, Gabriel smacks Kanon by his head, but to the point it hurts. More like in a playful manner.

"Kid, don't go emo on me," the carefree man said in a relaxed tone, "Leave the guy to the Russian branch. You oughta focus on getting better in your next assignment."

Kanon nods in response.

The young boy turned his head to the glass window, glancing at the street outside. The street's ground was entirely covered in snow. Many children were out there playing in the snow. Some of them were playing a snowball fight while the rest were building snowmen.

From that very moment, the waiter arrived with their orders.

Both Kanon and Gabriel took the time to enjoy their respective orders. Gabriel has always loved coffee. He enjoyed the distinctive smell of caffeine and the taste. As for Kanon, he liked the sweet flavor of the cake.

"So what did the chief said to ya?" Gabriel asked while taking a sip of his coffee.  
"He assigned a Familiar for me," Kanon answered in the same monotone voice.

"Really? Kid, you're lucky to have a Familiar," Gabriel said in a surprised tone, "Not many newbies got a Familiar. It took about a year or two to have one."

"But mine's an European Robin. How can a small animal be a help to me?" Kanon told his friend voicing his concern over the boss' decision.

Gabriel chuckled.

"Kid, no need to sweat the small details. You should've known what they taught you back at the academy. Appearances can be deceiving," the young man said to the boy.

Kanon was left speechless after hearing his friend's wise words. Knowing Gabriel ever since he first entered the organization, he knew he could trust him deeply. The man has been always there for him whenever he wanted some advice. In fact, Gabriel was one of the first few people who welcomed him into the group.

Kanon stared at his half-eaten sweet until he noticed Gabriel looked at his watch. The latter had raised his eyebrows while keeping his carefree expression. He immediately picked his cup and drank the last of his coffee.

"Sorry kid, love to stay and chat," Gabriel placed his now-empty cup to the table and some cash near Kanon's plate, "But my break time is almost over. I'll see you at the apartment tonight. Take care yourself."

Gabriel then left.

Kanon was left alone, leaving him wondering about his new Familiar and his assignment tonight.

* * *

Hours have passed, the sun had begun to sat.

Now that it's almost nighttime, some of the stores have closed.

The street lamps had lit up.

Streets all over the city were still covered in cold snow. The children still enjoyed the snow continuing to play, not wanting to return home just yet. For the adults, they're all over the streets since they have yet to finish their objectives. Some of them have done their rounds so they're on their way back to their respective homes.

Among the crowd was Kanon, who's also on his way back home. In his arms were a pair of grocery bags, containing several household appliances and ingredients for cooking dinner.

The apartment was just around the corner of the street nearby the antique shop, 'Ancient Treasure Vault.' It wasn't that big but the view wasn't that bad either. Not too expensive either, the price was right. The apartment was a good place to call it home.

Kanon stood there glancing the view of his 'home.' He had just moved into the apartment a week ago. He didn't have to pay his rents, leave that to a certain member of the Ludicium Magicum to pay the rents for him. He should be lucky knowing someone was willing enough to pay the rents.

Even though he lived in one of the rooms, he wasn't alone. In fact, three of the members from the organization lived in the apartment as well, although in separate rooms. His friend, Gabriel Cunningham, was one of them.

Upon entering the apartment, he made it to his place. It's in the fourth floor Room #402.

His place wasn't that big and it suited him considering that he lived alone. Well, not anymore since he's going to have a Familiar soon, let alone a female even though it's an animal.

There he was, standing in the main room, or the foyer if you look at it that way. It was quite empty too, nothing much but a table and a pair of two chairs in the middle. It'll take a while to tune up the place. The windows were quite clean although they still missing curtains to close them.

There's the bathroom in the right corner of the room. There's also the kitchen in the left completed with its own table and a stove. Not to mention, other few things that every kitchen needed such as a small cabinet hanging on the wall and a small microwave for heating up stuffs. Finally, the bedroom in the front. It's very small but suited him.

After locking the door, Kanon made his way to the kitchen and placed the groceries on the table near the stove. The first things he pulled out from the bag were a frozen beef and some eggs. He then took a Crock-Pot and a frying pan from the cabinet.

Kanon merely stared at the things in his hands before he placed the kitchen appliances on the stove and the food on the table. He turned his attention to the window.

It's exactly what the boy had expected. There she was, the female European Robin was sitting on the windowsill.

Kanon made his way through the rooms and reached the window. Strangely enough, the bird stared at the boy with her small pupils. Just by looking at the bird made it felt as if you were actually looking at an actual person. That's nothing much to say if the animal's a Familiar, a supernatural being taking form of any animals it wanted.

"I knew you'd come soon," Kanon suddenly talked to the bird as he gently opened the window. Once it's opened, the little bird flapped her wings and flew into the room. She landed on the chair and closed her eyes, as if she had always lived here. Maybe she got cold on the way over to the apartment.

Kanon closed the window and turned on the bird.

He had no idea what to say to his new 'partner.' It's not like his friend Gabriel, whom he knew for a long time. Now he's feeling a lot more awkward the more he thought about it. He had a partner he couldn't even talk to, let alone a female.

Kanon became silent for a moment.

"Is your name Elise?" Kanon finally started with a question. His voice attracted the bird's attention as she opened her eyes, staring directly at him.

"Okay... Why don't we start from the beginning?" Kanon talked again as he approached the table. He pulled the chair and sat down. In turn, the European Robin looked at him attentively. That alone convinced Kanon that the bird could understand every word he said. At least the bird could understand.

Kanon took the time to breath before starting the conversation.

"My name is Kanon. As you can see, I'm new in the organization. I... I don't think I have a family," Kanon suddenly paused for a while before he continued to talk to his Familiar, "All I remember is that... I was at a beach."

Kanon was silent again taking the time to recall his past. The bird was listening.

"I was at a beach, soaked wet. I didn't know how long I was there, but they say I was messed up. They found me early in the morning. If they hadn't found me, I..." Kanon shook his head sideways. Just by trying to remember what happened before the beach only brought pain onto his head. Thus, he couldn't remember anything much farther back.

"That's all I could remember... Nothing else," Kanon uttered.

The bird still had her attention on him and listened to his every word. Kanon soon noticed the female robin titled her head, prompting the former to continue on.

"Well, I was brought in by Master Khelben. That was the time I heard about this organization, to keep both magic and the supernatural in secret, to protect it from being misused, and eliminate threats coming from both aspects. At first, I didn't know why he took me in. I didn't know much about combat or even spells like the rest. But now, I can see why."

Kanon summoned the crimson-colored sword, which was made out of pure energy, from his fist. The bird looked at the magnificent energy blade.

"I never knew I had this kind of power. It was able to harm anything, even those from both the supernatural and magic aspects. Even through solid steel," Kanon explained his powers in detail to his 'partner' before the blade faded away.

"And so, they took me to the Manus Conseruit Academy where I learn a lot about combat and the history of magic. It was like school, really, until I graduated. Now here I am," Kanon said to the bird, now feeling much more relax to talk.

"I was grateful that he took me in. He may be a bit strict at times, but I believe he's such a nice man. If he hadn't took me in, I wouldn't know what to do, or even know what would happen to me next."

"So... I guess you know what happen in my first assignment."

The bird chirped.

"I'll take that as a yes," Kanon nodded his head.

"But now that I think about it... I could've done much better during that time. I guess I wasn't that smart," Kanon confessed to the little bird.

"So... Since you're my Familiar... Don't hesitate to tell me if what I'm doing is wrong. You got it?" Kanon said to the bird, which the latter answered with a nod. The boy answered as well with a nod.

The bird suddenly turned her attention to the kitchen.

"Oh, that's right," Kanon quickly stood up, "I should be making dinner immediately."

Kanon sprinted his way back to the kitchen. Now that the bird's in the apartment, the boy pulled something out from one of the groceries. It's a bag of bird seed.

"Are you hungry, Elise?" Kanon held out the small bag toward the robin, "I bought this just for you."

Much to his surprise, the bird shook her head sideways.

"W-What? You don't like this?" Kanon raised his right eyebrow in surprise, "Then what do you eat?"

The bird, Elise, flew across the room and landed on the frozen beef. That alone gave Kanon his answer.

"I truly didn't expect that..." Kanon uttered whilst keeping his straight face.

-X-

Meanwhile, at the same time...  
Somewhere in the city...

A young man arrived home.  
He's dressed up in a sleeveless shirt and blue jeans with a black jacket.

He seemed normal from a normal human's point-of-view, but there's something very odd about him.

The man entered the house slowly.

Not long after he entered, someone suddenly screamed in terror before a disturbing sound was heard. It appeared to be the sound of something cutting through a large piece of meat.

Inside, there was a young woman... Dead on the ground.

Her abdomen was sliced wide open exposing what inside the human body. For her face, it was cut in half.

Standing in front of the corpse was the man, holding a large knife. The man had a disturbing grin on his face, but it wasn't just the grin that distinguished his feature. It was his eyes...

His eyes have no pupils.

_**End of Chapter**_

And that's the end for this chapter as we get to see everything about the Ludicium Magicum and a few characters who will be joining up very soon.

Now that Kanon has his own Familiar, his next assignment isn't far enough. Can you guess what's next?

The characters that make their debuts are:  
- **Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun**, one of the most renowned Archmages from the _**Forgotten Realm series**_ and the leader of the Ludicium Magicum. He's from another 'realm' but his new mission is to be here in this particular 'realm.' If he had both a seiyu and a voice actor, his seiyu would be _Makio Inoue_ and his voice actor would be _Patrick Stewart_.  
- **Gabriel Cunningham**, a young man who's a member of the Ludicium Magicum and an original character in this fic. He's quite care-free and a very nice guy, but he's actually one of the best members in the organization. If he had both a seiyu and a voice actor, his seiyu would be _Daisuke Namikawa_ and his voice actor would be _Liam O'Brien_.


	3. Possederunt

Hello and welcome back to the fic.

Well, we're now in the point where Kanon takes on several assignments. Each chapter will be known as 'assignment.'

From this point on, Kanon will have his own investigation on certain cases that may involve magic/supernatural or logical cause. This means that not all enemies are going to be magic or supernatural related, but also normal people as well.

Keeping with the series' tone, certain clues or important events will be written differently in the following:  
- magic and supernatural-related will be **bold**.  
- logical and tricks will be _italicized_.

The entity behind the case will be revealed either at the end of the chapter or the next.

That's all for now, enjoy the fic.

DISCLAIMER: as usual, I do not own the canon characters. I only own the original characters.

* * *

_**England  
December 29th, 1989**_

Night had fallen in the streets.

The sky was a dark, cloudless ocean of endless blue and twinkling whites. There were thousands of stars all over, far away from below.

Street was empty now that most people are at their homes, sleeping for the night. It's rare to see someone in the street during this late of hour, except for a few stray cats and dogs.

Although dark, the lampposts across the pathways lightened the street. Snows had finally stopped dropping though the street was almost covered in snow. The wind blew through the cold air.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

We return to the apartment where Kanon lived.  
Kanon, wearing a plain black T-Shirt, was sitting on his chair in the foyer, reading a novel entitled 'The Man Who Went There' written by Patricia Bailey. He usually read books in his spare time while waiting for his assignment to arrive at his apartment's doorstep. The messenger would always knocked on the door and slipped said assignment underneath it.

His home was still quite empty so he didn't have much. He couldn't rent a TV to watch the news. The only form of entertainment he could turn on to was books. Unfortunately, he didn't have much books to read since he could only afford three books. 'The Man Who Went There' was one of them.

It was already the fourteenth time he read the book. He couldn't help it at all because it's his favorite among the three books.

His new Familiar, Elise the European Robin, landed her small talons on Kanon's right arm. "What is it?" Kanon turned his head at the little bird.

The bird chirped. She then flew across room and landed on the kitchen table. The sullen boy immediately knew what the bird was trying to say.

"You're hungry again? But you've already ate almost all my beefs," Kanon closed the book and stood up, "I only ate just a little and that bird seed I bought. I know that we've just met, but we have to save up some food for tomorrow. I can't afford anymore food right now because I'm low on money."

However, Elise chirped again. The bird was pretty persistent when it's trying to get what it wanted.

Kanon sighed. He had a feeling that Elise may be one of those types who wouldn't take no for an answer. Eventually, he decided to give Elise the last of his food just this once. He'd figure out a way once he talked to his friend, Gabriel, about his low food problem.

As soon as he stepped on the kitchen area, he heard a knocking sound. He immediately turned at the door. Just underneath the door was an envelope.

The boy picked up the envelope and opened it. Inside was a letter, which he immediately read.

Kanon became silent while reading the letter. Once he's finished, he looked back at the bird.

"We're going out now," he said as he made his way back to his bedroom.

Other than a small bed, there was also a cabinet where he kept his gear. His favorite coat was there on the clothes hanger. Below it was a set of interesting trinkets, or objects if look the other way around. Among them was the amulet with the mark of the sun symbol.

"Time to get to work."

* * *

Just beyond the apartment's street three blocks away was St. George district.

Unlike the apartment's street, the district was slightly crowded with people since there were more of them in that certain area. The district also had snow covered the streets.

It took only a few minutes to get there.

Kanon had arrived at the district with his new Familiar, Elise, nested on his left shoulder.

According to the letter, his next assignment was to investigate a murder in a small house across St. George. The victim was a young woman who was living with her boyfriend. They had plans to get marry by the end of next January. Unfortunately, her boyfriend began to act strangely for the past week. Earlier, her boyfriend unexpectedly killed her in cold-blood with a knife. Once he killed her, he committed suicide by slitting his own throat.

While it may be a case of a psychopath murder, one of the organization's agent claimed that it may be related to a supernatural case. In fact, there have been similar cases of murder like that a few weeks ago.

The Ludicium Magicum sent Kanon to investigate the latest murder and find out whether the supernatural was involved or not.

On the way to the victim's house, Kanon was constantly pestered by merchants who wanted to give him very cheap merchandises, such as an old Chinese fan, a child's toy, and a broken watch. Unlike most merchants, this man didn't even try to hide the shabby looks of his things.

Kanon tried his best to ignore the merchant, but the latter's constant pesters began to annoy the former. Acting impulsively again, Kanon quietly gestured a finger sign that emitted his fingers with green light. Similar light began to cover the man's eyes and it placed him in a trance-like state. The boy immediately sprinted across the street leaving the merchant behind before the spell wore off.

It didn't take long for the spell to wear off from the man. When it did, the merchant was dumbfounded by his surroundings whilst wondering what he was doing.

Once he found the shabby merchant out of sight, Kanon stopped in his trail and sighed. That's when he noticed Elise looking at him.

Even though she's an animal, the boy could tell that his Familiar wasn't happy with his decision to use magic on a normal human.

"Hey, I can't help," Kanon whispered at Elise.

Just in that moment, someone grabbed hold of Kanon's right shoulder. The boy immediately turned his head. There was a young pair stood right in front of him. Their sudden appearance spooked Kanon a bit but he retained his calm demeanor.

The pair consisted of an attractive girl with red hair whose almost tall as Kanon and a tough-looking man with a surly expression on his face. Both wore similar winter coats and they have their own extinguishable features. The girl had a very smooth skin while her hair was quite long and straight, reaching at least below her shoulders. The man had a long scar on his cheek while his hair was a buzz cut style.

It was the girl who held Kanon's right elbow.

"Hold it," the girl said. She was the leader that Kanon could tell straight off. "Nomini tuo."

The words Nomini Tuo are Latin for Your Name.  
In the Ludicium Magicum, it's common for members to question certain members by saying out those words when outside of headquarters. There are certain ways they determine if the person who used magic is an organization member or someone who happened to possess magic. The said Latin words are one of them.

Kanon shrugged and looked at the pair in the eyes.

"Kanon. New. Solo."

They waited.

"Okay," the girl said as she lifted her hand off the boy's elbow. She and the tough man stepped backward. "Come this way," the girl turned toward an alley nearby.

Kanon and the pair entered said alley. There he was, the boy stood in his ground facing at the pair.

Our protagonist knew that the girl and the man were Ludicium Magicum members, though he didn't know their names. He didn't spend much with other members to get to know them, except for Gabriel. Of course, he didn't bother.

Suddenly, the European bird suddenly flew away into the black sky above. What's gotten into her? Could it be a sign of trouble? Hopefully not...

"_**Sara**_. New. Chalybs Division," the girl spoke in a serious tone.

"_**Jonathan**_. Veteran. Chalybs Division too," the man spoke as well. His tone was the same as the girl Sara's, only much rowdier.

The man moved a little closer to Kanon as the former glanced at the latter. Jonathan looked at the boy's face noting the eyes and the emotionless look. He soon stepped back. "So you're the newbie, huh? They weren't kidding that you're young. Too young," the man said.

"Really? Am I a celebrity all the sudden?" Kanon asked in a monotone voice.

"Watch your tongue, kid," Jonathan warned the boy. The girl held her partner's elbow prompting him to tone down his anger. Jonathan nodded at the young girl.

"You have some kind of problem?" Kanon asked.

Sara drilled Kanon with one of those specialty glances that most women have. She started to look more attractive and appealing within every moment. Of course, Kanon wasn't easy to be attracted to beautiful ladies. He merely stared back at her with his seemingly cold eyes. Sara began to smile finding it to be quite entertaining.

"Well, we're not the ones with the problem," Sara began to spoke. She suddenly raised her hand and laid her index finger on Kanon's chest. "You, however, are the one with the problem."

"Yes, and what was that?" Kanon spoke up again.

"Don't think we didn't see you use that spell. That _Stupore_ spell," she told Kanon, "Only a minor intervention, but an offense is an offense."

"Are you going to take me in then?" Kanon spoke again in a similar monotone voice. Sara could clearly see that the boy said it intentionally, it was as if he's making fun out of this situation.

A minor intervention was next to nothing, a level of influence on the borderline between magic, supernatural, and the ordinary.

"We are, so give me your hands and I'll be glad to cuff 'em for you," Sara smiled deciding to play along.

The man, Jonathan, wasn't to be taken lightly. He didn't find it amusing but find it very offensive. "Little brat," Jonathan barked as he pulled Kanon by his coat, "Do you realize that you nearly exposed the existence of magic in this world? Have you forgotten one of the most important laws? Never let any ordinary human discover the existence of magic and supernatural! You are an agent of the Ludicium Magicum, show that you care with these matters! It's still a violation!"

Kanon was silent. His expression was blank as ever.

"The guy's pestering me and wouldn't leave me alone. In addition, I'm having an assignment," Kanon spoke up.

"And that's your only excuse?" Jonathan snarled.  
"You could ask my superiors," Kanon answered back almost immediately.

Eventually, Sara held his elbow prompting the man to calm down. He did and he lifted his hands off Kanon's coat.

The pair exchanged glances. Honestly, they're not quite fond in involving their superiors, let alone their boss. After a while, they both look back at Kanon.

"That is still a violation, but we'll slip this one out. Consider it a warning, don't do it again," Sara said to Kanon.

"I'm guessing there's a catch here?" Kanon said.

"No catch," Sara said almost so sudden.

That was quite a surprise for Kanon. Usually, people make some negotiations to keep their little events a secret. Jonathan may not like it, but he decided to listen to his partner for once.

Kanon looked at Sara, trying to figure out the catch. However, her expression was quite normal. She has a bright look written on her face, which Kanon interpreted as a good sign.

"I accept," Kanon nodded.

"Then we have a personal agreement," Sara smiled.

Now that it's done, Kanon made his way out of the alley. He sighed out of relief. He had been through quite a lot, especially with the vampires at Russia. He thought that he'd be in deep trouble since it involved other members of the organization.

As he stepped into the light of a lamppost, his Familiar flew back at him and nested on his right shoulder.

"Glad you're here. The agreement's been made and-" before Kanon could finish, the bird screeched furiously right at his ear. The little bird suddenly bit Kanon's ear with her beak. Both were surprisingly painful considering Elise's small size, which caused him to yelp a little.

"W-What's wrong with you?" Kanon asked as the bird flew away. There she was, hovering up front of his face. That's when something happened that surely surprised the sullen boy.

"You made two mistakes."

Elise spoke.

Her voice was quite gentle. Soft, velvety, and beautifully to be exact. Not exactly what Kanon had expected from a Familiar in a small bird's form.

Kanon became dead silent with his face's expression changed to that of a shocked one, but not to the degree that he's very surprised. His mouth hanged open a little.

"So... You can talk?" Kanon asked while still surprised.

"Yes, does it surprise you much?" Elise spoke up again. Kanon soon regained his usual calm, blank look.

"Why didn't you say anything before?" Kanon asked again.  
"Everything was okay before. Plus, I find it amusing to see you figure out my every gesture," Elise answered with a chuckle.

Kanon quickly remembered his assignment as he looked at a clock, which was hanging on a top of a small shop nearby. It's almost 10 o'clock.

"We... We should go now. And meanwhile, you can explain what mistakes I've made," Kanon said in a quick tone as he turned and ran toward the victim's house. The European Robin flew, following the boy.

* * *

Kanon and his Familiar eventually arrived at a small house just across the district. The street was quiet and devoid of people.

Apparently, the police were still in the house, investigating the scene of the murder. Because of it, they've blocked off the surrounding paths and the house's door with police lines. Not to mention, there were two officers patrolling in front of the house.

Thankfully, the trance spell wasn't the only spell that Kanon could use. He knew a few spells that were easy to use and invisibility was one of them. It only required a quick finger gesture and uttering a single word to use the spell. Even Elise was turned invisible.

With the spell activated, the invisible Kanon sneaked his way into the house. He made the smart decision by waiting for one of the officers to open the main door and sneaked in when his back was turned.

He made his way into the foyer where the murder took place. Its space wasn't too small but it wasn't too big either. Nothing out of the ordinary in the room, it's what you may expect from normal civilians. Furniture included comfy chairs and small tables, placed around the foyer to make it feel like home.

From where Kanon stood, he was in the middle. To the north was the staircase to the second floor. To his right was an opened doorway to the kitchen. Lastly, the south was the entrance.

The bodies were there covered in sheets. Both the victim and the killer were near the staircase.

Officers were investigating the house's interior, hoping there were any clues that may explain the killer's motive. So far, there were no clues. Their next location was upstairs. Some of the officers went up to the second floor to investigate, leaving three officers in the foyer.

The cops' presence prevented Kanon and Elise from investigating the murder. Our protagonist decided to make his move to distract the guards until Elise whispered in his ear, "Leave it to me," before she flew away into the kitchen.

While Kanon was there waiting for the distraction, he could hear the officers talking over some rumors.

"Disgusting, ain't it?"  
"Yeah, the poor lady. Nobody deserved this kind of death."  
"Is it just me... Or does this look very similar with that old case?"  
"You mean the case with those families?"

The last part of the conversation caught Kanon's full attention. Before he could have the chance to hear anything about the case, they hear a loud noise coming from the kitchen. It sounded like numerous plates or glasses shattered.

The cops jumped as they quickly drew their guns. They then ran for the kitchen to investigate.

Kanon was also surprised, although a bit. Elise soon returned and landed her talons on the boy's right shoulder.

"What did you just do?" Kanon whispered.  
"Just a little redecorating, Kanon. It's quite a mess, if I do say so myself," Elise whispered back in an elegant tone.

"Now then," Elise turned her little head toward the victims covered in sheets, "Let's get to work. Why don't you use some of your little toys?"

First of all, Kanon approached the victim near the staircase. He opened up the sheet a little to see the victim's body. It wasn't a pretty sight, her inside was clearly exposed. The poor woman's abdomen was sliced in a horizontal line and cut wide open that the boy could even see the intestines. Other than the stomach, the victim's head was sliced in half in a vertical line exposing what's inside.

It was a horrible sight indeed...  
Even Kanon found it horrible and disturbing at the same time.

Kanon almost felt sick that he could puke any moment, but he maintained his focus in the case. Of course, he too felt sorry for the unfortunate victim. It was just too cruel to die in such an inhumane manner as if she's just an animal.

"You okay?" Elise suddenly asked. Kanon nodded.

Our protagonist looked closer at the body while holding the sheet upward. He noticed something odd about the cuts by its lines. **The cut was almost too precise; too perfect even. That's something a normal human couldn't do at all.**

First, he searched around her body for clues. However, there was nothing in her.

Next, the boy picked something out from his coat. He held a slightly large pouch containing strange, green-colored powder. He threw some of the powder into the body. It showed nothing at all.

Afterwards, Kanon closed the body with the sheet before turning his attention to the victim.

When he peeked the body, he found it disturbing as much as the victim. The killer did commit suicide as he had slit his throat with the same knife. The killer's weapon wasn't anywhere in sight since it was taken into police custody.

Now what drove the killer into committing suicide? What's the reason for killing his girlfriend? Could it really be connected with the supernatural? Questions clouded Kanon's mind. Well, there's no way to find out lest they found more clues.

Like the victim, Kanon searched the killer's body for clues. Fortunately, he found something in the killer's pocket: an ad to a clinic called 'Gentle Touch.'

Next, he used the same green powder. This time, there was a result. The powder magically exposed **a strange green aura surrounding the body**. The aura was faint and blurry, but clear enough to see.

"What's that you used?" Elise asked.

"Jìe Zhōng powder, it leaves traces of possession signs. The Chinese branch made this," Kanon explained whilst keeping his eyes on the body. "They're right, supernatural is connected here. This man has been possessed."

"Possessed?" Elise asked again interested with what Kanon had just said.

"Yes. He was possessed by a supernatural entity. According from this aura's look, he was possessed numerous times. That explains his unusual behavior for the past week. Now the question... What entity are we dealing with?" Kanon told the little bird.

There's one spell that Kanon had to learn for this kind of case. He has been practicing the spell for quite a while, but it wasn't perfect yet. It required him to touch the killer's face. He reached out his hand onto the man's face and closed his eyes. He immediately chanted the spell.

"**Indago Animus**."

Flash images begun to appear in Kanon's mind, the killer's point of view from last week. The images were unclear as it's plagued with blur and distortion. From what he could see, the man was very nervous.

**/-/**  
From the killer's eyes, he was glancing at a flowing river somewhere in a beautiful tropical forest. It was midday and the sun shone the green environment.

He was there, standing on a stone path while watching the waters flow through the river. "Beautiful, isn't it?" a woman's voice asked. The man nodded as he turned to the right. His girlfriend was also there, standing beside him while holding his hand.

"But not beautiful as you," the man said. The woman smiled finding the man's words to be sweet. She suddenly leaned forward intending to kiss him by his lips.  
-

The next flashback was in a park.

The man was walking with the woman happily.  
-

Next, it was in a beach.  
The sun was beginning to set, which made the scenery more beautiful from before.

The man was also there with his girlfriend.

"Annie," the man suddenly knelt over his right knee and held out a small box. He immediately opened the box revealing a beautiful ring. "Will you marry me?"

At first, his girlfriend was speechless but as seconds passed, she began to smile softly accompanied with a bright look on her face. "Of course I will," she uttered in a kind tone.  
-

The killer was at his home.  
He was sitting on his large, comfy bed in his bedroom. His girlfriend wasn't there with him.

The man was looking a picture of himself and his girlfriend at Rome a year ago. They were holding each other's hands and smiling. The man remembered all the wonderful times he had with his girlfriend, there was nothing in the whole world that could replace his love.

All the sudden, he felt an ominous presence. Apparently, he had known the presence for certain amount of time.

"J-Just get away!" the man suddenly turned to his right. "I-I loved her! I never hated her! S-She's my life, my world! Why would I want to kill her?!"

The man paused for about a minute when he heard a murmured voice.

"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!" The man cried as he stood up. Even though there was no one in the room, the man could feel a chilling presence. It's quite frightening for whoever or whatever was in the room caused the man to shake his legs uncontrollably and his skin crawled.

His fear grew and grew to the point of being snapped.

"Just get the hell away from me!?" The man suddenly turned intending to flee.

However, his legs suddenly froze stiff. He couldn't move at all. He would want to move, but he couldn't. It felt as if someone held a strong grip on both his legs.

At first, the man was horrified, fearing something bad would happen. That soon faded away when he began to feel relaxed yet tiring. From that moment, his arm suddenly moved by its own, raising it up in the air.

"Annie..." The man suddenly spoke with a grin. His voice wasn't normal at all... It was distorted and mixed with another person's voice.  
**/-/**

Kanon quickly opened his eyes as he pulled his hand away from the killer's head. He figured out the identity of the entity.

He quickly closed the sheet and told Elise about the man's vision.

"So you're saying that he's possessed by a ghost?" Elise asked.  
"Yes," Kanon nodded, "This man truly loved his beloved, he would never kill her."

Before Kanon could say anything else, the officers returned from the kitchen.

"What the hell just happened there?" one of the officers asked.  
"Yeah. I mean, how did those plates got out of the cabinet?" another asked.

Kanon raised an eyebrow when he heard the last policeman's words. Now he knew what Elise meant by 'quite a mess' earlier.

But enough of that, Kanon must report immediately.

* * *

Kanon exited a small house somewhere in the neighborhood just across his apartment.

There were secret agents hidden all over the city. They were called 'Representatives.' They're usually the ones who gave information to other members and vice versa. As you can see, this seemingly normal house was one of their hideouts.

It was known that the culprit behind the murder was done by a ghost. The said ghost had possessed the poor man and forced him into committing murder and then suicide. It was a powerful one too since it had been possessing the man for quite some time.

After Kanon told the Representative about everything he'd seen with the bodies, he was given the next move: to find and put an end to the spirit behind it.

Question? Where did the ghost go next?

Elise suddenly came down from the night sky and landed on Kanon's shoulder.  
"You sure know your way around here," Elise commented on Kanon's sense of direction. "Thank you for your compliment. I happen to know most of the places around the city so I know my way around," Kanon said back.

"I'm guessing they want you to go after the guy," Elise guessed. "Oh no, they told me to go home and get some sleep," Kanon answered in a rather serious tone.

"Kid... You're bad at making jokes, aren't you?" Elise sighed.

"Right," Kanon scoffed as he looked to his right. The street was empty as there were no people hanging around since it's getting late. Thanks to the snowy winter, it has gotten even colder than usual. "Now we just to know a bit of our ghost's identity. If we do, we might be able to figure out the ghost's next move."

"Good idea," Elise commented.

"Yeah, seeing that it's ghost this time, it shouldn't be too hard... Unlike vampires," Kanon suddenly spoke.

"Don't underestimate them. They're completely different than vampires and equally dangerous. You should know that a ghost is a wandering spirit doomed to wander the earth for eternity. No normal humans can see them but you can actually feel their presence. Most of them are aggressive mainly due to their tragic past. There may be ways to get rid of them, but they're quite difficult to eliminate," the bird warned Kanon.

The boy turned his attention back to the bird. "Also, you haven't faced a ghost before, so don't pretend you know them very well. That overconfidence may be your downfall."

"Now I can see why the boss wanted me to accompany you. You're impulsive, that's your big problem. You're not even trying your best, for god's sake. Think about your actions," Elise criticizes Kanon as if she was his own mother.

Kanon nodded in response, acknowledging her words.

"Do you mind if I ask you?" Kanon suddenly asked. Elise responded by nodding her tiny head. "Can you tell me the reason you've agreed to be my Familiar?"

"Short answer? You're interesting," the bird gave the rather short answer much to Kanon's confusion. The boy raised an eyebrow.

"Interesting? Me?"  
"Yeah. Besides orders from the boss, something tells me that interesting things may happen if I come with you."

"So... In other words... You're also here for the thrills?" Kanon asked.  
"If you look that way, yeah," Elise casually replied.

Kanon didn't quite get with Elise but he decided to accept her answer.

"Now then, what are you going to do next?" Elise asked.

"Remember that ad we saw with the man?" Kanon turned toward the street again, "Gentle Touch. We should go to that Gentle Touch clinic."

"Yes, but do you have any idea where that is?" Elise asked again.

Kanon became dead silent.

"You don't know, do you?" Elise continued without missing a beat. "And you said you know your way around."

"Okay, maybe I don't know much about the streets," Kanon confessed as he scratched the back of his head, "I'll just go back inside and ask where the clinic is."

"Or you can just go there," Elise turned her little head at a certain direction. Kanon looked at the said direction and, to his surprise, found a small clinic with a large sign above the door labeled 'Gentle Touch.' It was just the other side of the road from the Representative's hideout.

Our protagonist raised an eyebrow seeing the clinic.  
"Coincidence much?" Elise smirked.

Without wasting anymore time, Kanon made his way across the road and reached the conveniently placed clinic. It was a coincidence too when he noticed that the closing time was exactly at midnight. Currently, the time was 10:30 PM.

He knocked on the door for about two times.

Just when he did so, he suddenly had a feeling that he's being watched. It was rather uncomfortable as if something was ready to attack him. The cold air wasn't the source of the disturbance, it was something else...

Elise, who's on Kanon's right shoulder, immediately noticed Kanon's change of expression. The boy's eyes were widened and his eyebrows raised. He had his lips slightly opened and stretched. Unbeknown to Elise was his left hand, it was shaking uncontrollably.

Even though Kanon had the power to annihilate both supernatural and magic properties, this was something from the former that he had never faced before. It was truly a different experience.

The freezing air just made it worse. Even with his winter coat, he could still very cold whereas his skin became dead cold as a corpse.

From what he could tell, the presence was behind him, at the very place where he exited the house.

That's when Kanon decided to make his move. He slowly turned his head around to the walkway and the Representative's house... There was no one there.

"Kanon? Is something wrong?" Elise asked. Apparently, she didn't sense anything at all. She looked at the direction Kanon was watching, but she didn't find anything.

Unfortunately, the feeling of being watched didn't end. It was still there, the difference was that it'd changed location not in front of the hideout anymore. Instead, it had become dangerously close.

This time, the presence was right behind the boy.

He was also unaware of a white shadow in front of the clinic's door. You could tell that it's human but the shadow was unclear that you couldn't tell if it's a man or woman... Except for a large smile written on its face.

Kanon soon realized the presence was right behind him before the white shadow disappeared into the clinic's door.

Acting on pure instinct, Kanon quickly turned around with hands ready to grapple whatever was watching him. A surprised Elise was surprisingly strong for her size as she was able to grip her talons on Kanon's shoulders when he turned.

A bald, middle-aged man suddenly opened the door. Said man was dressed in a white coat, fitting for a good doctor or a scientist. In this case, a doctor.

It was almost so sudden and exactly on time that it spooked Kanon a bit.

"Whoa, calm down there, son," the man spoke in a gentle tone. "I'm really sorry it took time. I was having a bathroom break."

Kanon was speechless. His first experience with a ghost was almost too much for him to handle that he couldn't speak. Fortunately, the European Robin was quick to recover as she pecked on Kanon's ear to snap him back to reality.

"H-Huh?"  
"Is something wrong?"

"N-Nothing, it's nothing," Kanon uttered in an anxious tone. He bowed his head while apologizing to the man for spacing out.

"Oh my, it must be the cold, isn't it? Please, come in," the clinic's owner slowly backed away while gesturing his arms, telling Kanon to come in.

Kanon nodded before he entered the clinic.

-/-

"Please, make yourself at home."

The clinic was rather clean and bright. It had almost everything a clinic needed. Comfy chairs to sit, clean white floor, an expensive carpet, anything you expect to see in a clinic.

It also had its own bed with a few medical tools to examine the body. Just across the small room was the doctor's table. There were a few books on the table with a cup slightly filled with tea (it's still warm too).

Kanon looked around the room, noting the clinic's good interior.

"Son, is that your pet?" the doctor suddenly asked pointing at the little bird on Kanon's right shoulder. "Well, you could say she's my companion," Kanon answered the good doctor.

Kanon then sit on a chair right in front of the doctor's table, slightly close.

"So tell me, son," the doctor sit on his seat with his hands around his table, "What illness do you need me to cure?"

"Actually..." Kanon paused for a moment. Elise stayed silent wanting to see how things unfold, especially how the boy would handle things.

The boy soon spoke up.  
"You see, I'm working as a journalist and I've recently heard about this murder at St. George district," Kanon told the doctor. The latter was silent as he listened to the former intently.

"I've also heard that it was a couple. From what I've learned, someone had murdered his own girlfriend with a knife and then committed suicide. Do you know anything about this?"

The doctor suddenly became silent.

Everything had become dead silent for a few seconds. "Did they also tell you they had plans to get married at the end of January?" the doctor finally spoke up asking a question. Kanon nodded.

The man's blank expression soon changed into a sad one.

"I... I can't believe it," the man said in a sorrowful tone. He had his hands covered his face.

"Are they relatives of yours?" Kanon asked.

"No, not relatives, but I do know them," the man moved his hands from his face, "His name was Nicholas Rogers."

"Nicholas?"  
"Yes, Nicholas' an employee of mine. He used to work here as my personal assistant. He was a very bright young man, he worked hard day and night. He even helped me making these."

The doctor suddenly pulled out a drawer in his table and picked up an ad. It was _the same ad that he had found in the poor victim's body_.

Kanon had one of his eyebrows raised.

"He's a good man, very good. Then he retired when he found another job, with better payment he said. Said that it's for the best since he's going to get married next month."

The doctor paused again for a while until he sighed.

"I wished him the best, hoping he had a bright future... In the end, it turns out like this..." The doctor said in a saddened tone.

"I... Really didn't expect something like this to happen. I know him for about three years, he wouldn't do something like this."

"I know, it's hard to believe that," Kanon spoke.

"Yeah... I wish I knew what's really going on in his head," the man added.

"So, is there anything else you can tell me about Nicholas Rogers? Does he have any relatives?" Kanon asked.

"Yes. His parents died in a car accident. He has three siblings, a brother and two sisters. His brother and sister were already married, only his younger brother wasn't," the doctor told the boy.

"Can you tell me where they live?" Kanon asked again.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know," the doctor answered.

Kanon paused. He began to think if anything he has learned so far have any connection with each other, especially the ghost. Unfortunately, he didn't have the answer he needed.

"Okay... Tell me about yourself," Kanon spoke up.

"Well, I'm just a regular doctor. I've been working here in Gentle Touch clinic for years, ever since I was in my 20s. Just like my old man," the doctor explained. "I also have a wife and a daughter. My daughter, she's 13 years old and next week she'll be 14."

"Kids," the doctor give a warm smile, "They sure grow up so fast."

The boy became silent again whilst watching the doctor reminiscing his time with his family.

The doctor's family was okay, nothing much. The doctor appeared to be innocent, in his thought. Thus, there's no reason for him disbelieve him. In any case, he had some information he needed for the ghost case.

"One last question," Kanon suddenly spoke when he remembered something. "Do you think it has... Something to do with a ghost?"

The gentle doctor paused...

"Son, have you been playing video games?" the doctor chuckled.

"I apologize, sir. It's just... It's just something random that popped out of my head," Kanon joked accompanied with a little chuckle.

"Well, sometimes people do tend to ask funny questions," the doctor added.

"But thank you," Kanon stood up as he reached out his hand, "Thank you for your time."

"Your welcome, son," the kind doctor also stood up and shook the boy's hand.

Kanon immediately exited the clinic with Elise by his right shoulder.

The doctor smiled when he closed the door.

"What an interesting lad," the man said as he returned to his seat. He looked at the clock hanging on the wall. He noticed that it's an hour away until it's closing time.

The doctor then pulled a drawer open on the right of his table. Inside was a small, wrapped-up gift with colorful decoration; a cute one at that. He has already prepared a birthday present for his daughter a week ago. He just hoped that his daughter would like her gift. A gift that comes straight from the heart.

As soon as he closed the drawer, he felt sudden chill crawling under his skin.

The atmosphere had become very uncomfortable...  
It's the kind that will make you feel disturbed...

Nothing out of the ordinary on sight but there's definitely a presence in the clean clinic.

The doctor turned his head slowly around the clinic but he found nothing. There was sudden silence...

Approximately two minutes, the unnerving presence faded out of the room. The middle-aged doctor sighed in relief.

"_Damn... I must've been working too hard,"_ the man thought to himself. He decided to get a little drink to calm his nerves, at least until it's closing time. He couldn't wait to get back home to his family.

However, when he stood up and turned, he found someone... Or something...  
It terrified him to the point of being numbed. He couldn't move at all as his eyes were set on the figure. His face was frozen in fear, the type that you would give when you had met the face of death.

The figure just stood there, glancing at said doctor with its intimidating appearance.

Both sides stood still...  
The unknown figure then started to advance toward the frightened doctor...

-/-

Kanon and Elise were at front of the Representative's hideout.

"Really, what were you thinking? Asking about a ghost all the sudden?" Elise immediately asked in a gentle tone once they're alone outside.

"Just forget about it," Kanon scoffed.

"Like I said... Impulsive," the bird said back without a beat.

Kanon decided to ignore the little bird. Right now, he needed to focus on the enemy. Their next move should be talking to one of the supposed killer's siblings. They may have some clues they need to uncover the ghost's identity. The first thing he should do was to return to the apartment and asked Gabriel about Nicholas Rogers' family members.

Kanon was about to tell Elise of his plan when he suddenly remembered about the disturbing atmosphere earlier. He became silent once again.

"Say, what happened back there? You were just standing there and ignoring me," Elise told Kanon who's watching the snow-filled ground blankly. "It was as if you've seen a ghost."

A ghost...

That single word clouded the boy's mind. It may also explained the sudden change of atmosphere earlier that it froze him with fear. Disturbing, yes. It's something that he had never experienced other than facing the vampires.

If that's how the ghost was able to do, he couldn't imagine what would happen if he confronted it face-to-face. It must be terrifying, he thought.

Now he started to wonder what's worse: a vampire with unbelievable strength that thirst for blood or a supernatural being that you cannot see but it's there watching you?

Then again, it also helped to realize something important.

"Kanon?"

"I think we should keep an eye an eye on the doctor," Kanon finally spoke up.

"Why is that?" Elise asked.  
"First of all, there's something I need to tell you," Kanon answered.

* * *

An hour had passed until it hit midnight.  
That's the clinic's closing time.

It didn't take long enough for the doctor to exit the clinic. Shortly after locking the door, the doctor began his way back home. Although he's unaware that Kanon was nearby watching him. Fortunately, Kanon had used the invisibility spell so the doctor wouldn't able to see him.

The doctor soon made his move around the street.

It wasn't that long for the doctor to reach a small, quiet suburb. From how long it took to get there, the way back home was a little far.

Kanon, with Elise by his right shoulder, was standing in front of the doctor's house in a few meters away. The middle-aged doctor then unlocked the door and entered the house.

Said house was a bit big but it wasn't small either. A normal-sized house, to be exact. The yard was filled with piles of snow. It also had its own tree, which was also fraught heavily with snow.

"What's next?" Elise whispered at Kanon's ear.  
"A little investigation," Kanon quickly answered as he moved away from his hiding spot. He immediately made his way to the doctor's house.

Looking through the windows one by one, Kanon inspected the house's interiors. Oddly enough, most of the windows didn't have curtains. It's hard for him to see since most of the lights were off. It was normal as he expected from a happy family. The living room, the kitchen, the hall, it's got almost everything; similar to the victims' house.

Eventually, Kanon found the doctor walking around the house quietly. Kanon assumed that both his wife and daughter were already asleep. He kept his eyes on the doctor. Thanks to his invisibility, he could watch the doctor closely without getting spotted. He soon noticed something with the doctor, the latter looked rather tired than before. Said doctor also had his mouth hanging wide opened while walking across house. You could make the argument that since the doctor had to work until late at night would make anyone tired.

The middle-aged doctor eventually reached the staircase and made his way up the second floor. Kanon stepped backward and looked around his surroundings. He was standing next to the tree.

Kanon then looked above hoping he could see the upper floor through the windows. Unfortunately, the windows were closed by the curtains.

From that point, Kanon guessed that the doctor had returned to his room where his wife waited for him.

"You really sure about this, Kanon?" Elise asked soon after.  
"Yes. I'm... Just making sure the doctor is okay," Kanon answered back.

"After what I've just felt at the clinic, I can't shake this uneasy feeling," Kanon confessed to Elise.

"You're telling that you couldn't sense the ghost?" Kanon then asked as he leaned on the tree. "Yeah, I guess so... Can't believe it either," the bird replied almost immediately.

"What do you mean?"  
"I usually can feel its terrifying presence. I must be getting sloppier after all these years."

Kanon widened his eyes soon after.  
"How... Old are you?" Kanon asked.

"To a kid like you, you probably wouldn't believe me if I tell you," the bird chirped.

"Try me," Kanon said in a beat while keeping his eyes on the house.

"I'm 175 years old," Elise told Kanon. The latter was slightly surprised to hear such long lifespan as he turned his eyes toward her. "Surprise, are you?"

"I never thought Familiars could live that long," Kanon confessed.  
"Oh, you'd be surprised what you can learn over the years," Elise said in a relaxed tone.

Anyway, Kanon decided to enter the house and investigate. He just hoped his suspicions weren't true.

Kanon made his way from the yard to the front door. Thankfully, he knew a few tricks from the Manus Conseruit Academy such as picking up locks.

He took out the lock picking tools, a tension wrench and a hook pick, from his coat. Using everything he'd learned from the academy, he tried to pick the lock.

Unbeknown to our protagonist, the pair from earlier was there hiding behind a lone building's wall. Apparently, they were patrolling the quiet suburb by order of their superiors. Even though Kanon was invisible, the pair have strong magic that allow them to sense anyone even with invisibility spell.

Sara had her eyes fixed on Kanon, feeling quite interested with the boy in terms of his actions and his so-called morality.

"What the hell is he doing?!" Jonathan whispered angrily, "Didn't he learn his lesson from earlier?! Now he's breaking in like a common thief?!"

Jonathan was about move in and apprehend Kanon, but Sara held his arm to prevent him from doing so. "Hold on," she whispered, "Let's just wait and see."

Her partner widened his eyes in surprise to hear what she just said.

"I'm serious, just stay and watch. If he does come out with stolen property, we'll move in and apprehend him. Deal?"

The muscular agent of the Ludicium Magicum gritted his teeth. He didn't like the idea at all. However, he decided to give it a chance just this once though begrudgingly.

-/-

It took Kanon about five or seven minutes to unlock it.

"Got it," he whispered as he opened the door slowly.

"Huh, good job," Elise gave a little praise.

Just when he stepped his foot into the house, a woman's voice suddenly screamed in terror followed by a disturbing sound. The sound appeared to something that you may hear when someone cutting through a large piece of meat with a knife. That wasn't the only voice he heard screaming, there was also another scream. It belonged to a little girl.

Kanon was shocked to hear. From the sound of it, it was coming from upstairs.

"No..."  
"Kanon, hurry! Upstairs!"

Without missing a beat, Kanon immediately ran inside and head his way through the staircase. Elise gripped her talons on Kanon's shoulders so she wouldn't fall from him. The screams continued to echo the house.

There he was, made it to the second floor. Unfortunately, he and his Familiar began to more slashing sounds followed someone banging on a door. They still could hear the little girl screaming for help but couldn't hear the woman's scream anymore.

Kanon and Elise could hear someone crying in pain. The voice was coming from the other side of the hall. The boy ran through the hallway as quickly as he could until the banging sound stopped. The scream and the slashes had also faded.

Eventually, Kanon stumbled upon a door and noticed blood dripping beneath it. He widened his eyes in shocked.

The boy immediately opened the door. What he and his Familiar saw inside wasn't a good sight...

They found a body of a little girl lying on the ground with her front positioned down; right in front of him. The poor girl was dressed in a cute bunny pajama but was ruined by stabs from a knife. There was a long cut in her back in a horizontal direction. What's even worse was a small knife stabbed on the back of her head. An instant death, as you can see.

Kanon's usual blank look became that of a horrified one when he saw the cruel fate of the doctor's daughter. Even Elise was horrified by the gruesome murder.

The boy looked up in front.

He found a body of a naked woman lying on bed, cut in pieces. Her stomach was was sliced in a vertical line and cut wide open that you could see its inside, including the intestines. Fresh blood was scattered on bed, turning its clean sheet into crimson red. What's worse was the woman's face, it was stabbed by a knife numerous times until her face was completely ruined; to the point that no one could recognize her face.

The woman had to be the doctor's wife...

Kanon soon realized that he and Elise weren't alone...

They found the middle-aged doctor standing next to the bed... With a large knife in hand.

"D-Doc?" Kanon uttered.

The middle-aged doctor immediately turned around. What Kanon saw was something he never expected or prepared to face...

The doctor had a disturbing grin on his face and his eyes had no pupils at all, completely white like a demon. In addition, the doctor had an unusual aura surrounding him, turning the atmosphere into a cold, dark one. That may gives the chills to anyone in the room, including Kanon.

Kanon was froze in fear as he slowly realized that the doctor was possessed by a ghost. Not only that, the aura he's feeling right now and disturbing presence; they were exactly the same from the clinic earlier.

The boy couldn't move his legs or his arms. The presence of a ghost was too terrifying for him.

"Ha... Ha..." the middle-aged man chuckled. It wasn't just his voice Kanon could hear, but it was accompanied by someone else's voice. It was distorted but our protagonist could tell that it's masculine. They both talked in unison.

The possessed doctor began to advance toward Kanon.

"Kid, move!" Elise quickly flew away from Kanon and hovering above the boy. However, he couldn't move his legs as the entity's presence had him paralyzed. His widened eyes were fixed at the doctor's empty eyes and the large grin. He couldn't even move his arms or summon his laser blade to defend.

The entity within the doctor laughed sadistically before he lunged toward Kanon...

**-X-**

"_There is no ghost so difficult to lay as the ghost of an injury."_

_~Alexander Smith_

-X-

_**To be continued...**_

* * *

Turns out the enemy is a ghost, or an evil spirit if you look it that way. An entity that possessed people and its mere presence can terrify even the bravest of the brave.

The problem is that they don't know the identity of the ghost. Plus, this is the very first time Kanon confronts a ghost, a being that's equally frightening as a vampire.

Just who is the ghost that forced its victims into committing such horrible act? How is Kanon going to face such a deadly entity?

Find out more in the next chapter.

The characters that make their debuts are:  
- **Sara**, a young beautiful girl who's a member of the Ludicium Magicum. For her age, she's quite gifted and she's among the most famous women within the organization. She's also interested with Kanon.  
- **Jonathan**, a veteran agent of the organization. He holds the organization's law very seriously without regarding his own feelings. Currently, he holds disdain with Kanon and thinks he's not qualified as a member.

A little trivia:  
the book that Kanon read earlier in the chapter, "The Man Who Went There," is a homage to another book called '**The Man Who Wasn't There**.'

Patricia Bailey is also a parody of the book's author, **Pat Barker**.


End file.
